Gluing hardwood flooring?

[CBGumby]

Thanks for the reply about the particleboard underlayment. My husband just talked to his cousin, who is the supervisor of the flooring department at Lowe's, and he told my husband to use the self leveling underlayment, then to put down the rosin paper (actually, he didn't even mention rosin paper, but I assume it HAS to be used), and then to glue it.

He said to just put a few nails in, and to mostly use glue.

Is this acceptable? I want to do a good job, naturally, but I don't know how I feel about gluing 3/4" hardwood.

Please advise.

thanks!

[Nick Arrera]

You can not glue to rosin paper , or nail to self leveling underlayment . do you plan on still using the particleboard sub floor ?

[CBGumby]

I guess we are trying to avoid having to pull up all of the particle board underlayment.

So our dilemma is this: we have particleboard underlayment, and it has dips in some places (the room is 14' x 14' dining room), and we are going to lay 3/4" hardwood walnut flooring, in random lengths and random widths.

we are trying to figure out how to install this flooring without having to tear out and replace all of the underlayment.

[Tandy Reeves]

Anything you do short of tearing out the partical board and replacing it with 3/4" plywood is going to lead to a failure. The partical board will not hold the nails or staples. The planks are going to move, squeek, and have high end and side jounts. You should not glue it because solid wood is going to move and I do not believe partical board can withstand the sheer strength of the solid wood and adhesive.

[Floorguy]

Remove the particle board. Remove the subfloor where needed to get at the floor joists, unless you cab get at them from underneath. Fix the uneven substrate in the framing or structure, replace subfloor and overlay with plywood of the same thickness as the particle board was.


Or you can leave it as it is now, send me all the cash your fixing to waste, and you will be better off.

[Brady Wimer]

No particleboard. I have never glued a 3/4 in thick floor either--I use only 2 in L-shaped cleat nails, and that's it.

Spend a little extra time and money now and replace that subfloor with plywood, or you can spend a ton of money later by ripping out all of your flooring which will fail, and the having to rip out the subfloor anyway.

Anyone on here ever glued a 3/4 in floor? I can't imagine that holding without there being major league gaps in the seams.

[Tandy Reeves]

I have inspected several that were glued down, and they buckle all over the place. The planks with the least amount of adhesive or less hold by the adhesive are the ones that buckle.

[Nick Arrera]

Here is a idea CB , If the cousin in on line , he can sign up as a member here , and when he comes across something he is not sure of , he can post on the board and the members here will be more then glad to give him the benefit of all their years in the business ..

[TFP Admin]

Thank God for smilies.

[CBGumby]

he-he...

Okay, so I have decided I will replace the underlayment, that will give me the opportunity to figure out what that dip was all about, shim between the floor joists and the new subfloor, perhaps?

Anyway, I just called Lowe's, asking about 3/4" plywood. They said they have tongue and groove OSB and tongue and groove Advantech.

My next question is this: which (if either) is preferable for the job, and also, do I really want 3/4" subflooring? The hardwood is going to be 3/4" hardwood walnut, and it is in the dining room.

thanks!

[Jerry Thomas]

Good, it's not all that hard to get up and replace it with plywood. Generally speaking homes will have a 5/8" particle board UL over top 1/2" CDX grade plywood subfloor. Check to see how thick both layers are first.

The replacement underlayment plywood should be a square edge, not T&G. I use BC grade plywood for underlayment but you can use a CDX grade. Lowe's stocks both if it is 5/8". If you do have 3/4 PB they stock 3/4" BC plywood.

You do not have to go that thick, 1/2" BC or CDX square edge plywood over top a 1/2" CDX subfloor is alright too.

[CBGumby]

so, why don't I want to use T&G? When I spoke to the local Lowe's guy, he said "oh, you'd want to use tongue and groove".

[Floorguy]

Only if your going directly over the joists, do you need the more expensive T&G plywood, to keep seams between joists from moving.

[stullis]

You need T&G if it is a single floor system, in other words only 1 layer of plywood attached to the floor joists. The tongue supports the joint between the joist.

If your subfloor system is a 2 floor system then you can use sq. edge plywood for the second layer. Easier to install. Use at least a BCX plywood. The CDX plywood is really terrible quality nowadays.

[CBGumby]

okay, so I don't need tongue and groove. Now, we started to pull up a piece of particle board last night to see what was underneath it, and it is some dark brown plywood.

Does this need to be torn up and replaced as well? Or, can I just pull up the particleboard, use leveling compound or something (maybe asphalt roofing tiles, I heard that would work) over the plywood, then put the new OSB over that, and then the hardwood?